Try before you buy? Augmented reality lets you visualise furniture in your home

Israeli augmented reality company, Cimagine Media, has partnered with Shop Direct to bring homeowners an app that lets you see thousands of products in situ in your home.

The technology is called Markerless Augmented Reality (AR) and it scans your room using the camera on your tablet/smartphone, and then places a 3D model of the item you have selected into the image. Using the app you can then reposition the product and walk around it to get a look at different angles.

The app means that visitors will be able to see a realistic simulation of how home furniture products will fit in their home.

Shop Direct, the umbrella company behind online retailers such as Very.co.uk and Littlewoods.com, believe the app will have a massive influence on the future of interior design and decorating.

The developers of the new app commented: “Just point the camera where you want to see a product and it will be added to the scene in 3D. You can move and rotate the item to figure out whether it will fit as well as making sure that it complements your current décor.”

The software has been designed so that customers can see if an item will fit into the space they want and how it will look when it’s there against existing products or décor. With the use of this app, users are able to get a much better feel for how the item will look and adds confidence to the buying process, reducing the amount of returns.